Standing at the stove in Bonnie's kitchen, Elizabeth and Emily worked in silence for a few minutes, trying to figure out a way to get help. Emily caught Elizabeth's attention and signed surreptitiously that she would try to get the gun. Once she had it, she'd let Elizabeth know. Then it would be Elizabeth's turn to get alone so she could run to the next farm to get help. Her leg still aching, Elizabeth agreed. Even injured, she was the best runner here.
Turning so Bonnie could read her lips, Elizabeth asked, "Bonnie, can you come help me?"
Emily turned around to join in. "Here, I'll take that tray into the living room for you, Bonnie." Looking over at the men, she smiled. "Maybe one of you would like to help me pour the coffee?" Taking the tray with the fresh pot of coffee from Bonnie, Emily led the older man into the living room.
Bonnie joined Elizabeth at the stove. Making sure the second officer had returned to scanning the yard through the window; Elizabeth quickly told Bonnie the basic plan in sign. She turned her attention to sliding eggs onto a serving plate.
"What about your leg?" Bonnie asked.
The man at the window turned his attention back to the girls. Shooting a warning glance at Bonnie, Elizabeth grimaced.
"Yeah, it's really beginning to hurt again. I guess the Advil's beginning to wear off." Elizabeth eased her weight off her sore leg, favoring it more than was necessary. Looking over to him, she shrugged. "I was in a car accident yesterday. These fools were looking at the explosion, and rammed right into the car. I'm gonna sit down for a while, Bonnie, okay?"
While she'd been talking to Bonnie, she had signed simultaneously. The silent dialogue told Bonnie that she would be fine; that it was the only way. She left Bonnie to finish cooking the food. Moving a chair to the kitchen table, she sat down to rest her leg. Her spot at the table placed her in the perfect position to look through the doorway into the living room.
She watched Emily work her charms on her mark. Elizabeth was pretty sure he hadn't expected to be flirting with a beautiful blonde today of all days. If Elizabeth hadn't been watching out of the corner of her eye, she would have missed the jerk of Emily's hand causing the coffee to spill over his arm. Struggling to hide the grin on her face, Elizabeth leaned over to rub her leg before she stood up. Two limping steps brought her to the cabinet on the left side of the sink. From it, she pulled down a stack of plates to hand to Bonnie to fill. As she did so, he came back into the kitchen holding his arm.
"Ooh, that looks bad. Here, let me help you" Elizabeth offered, meeting him at the sink. She turned on the faucet and stuck his arm under the cold water. Using everything she'd learned from Drama last semester, she projected concern about his injury for all she was worth. If she hadn't been buying Emily a few more moments, she would have probably never offered to help.
"What happened?" the younger man asked as he stepped closer to the sink.
"She…I burned my hand" his partner replied.
"Hey, Bonnie, can you get the first aid kit?" Elizabeth said. Looking back to the burn, she continued. "We should probably bandage this. I can put some burn cream on it, too."
"No, it's okay. I'll be fine" the older man argued. The younger man agreed, then turned and headed into the living room to check on Emily. He escorted Emily back into the kitchen where she once again apologized to the injured officer.
Even though she would never publicly admit it, Elizabeth was impressed with the way Emily had handled herself in the living room. 'Accidentally' spilling the coffee had been priceless. Though she was sure Emily hadn't had enough time to get the gun out of the display, Emily's slight nod when she returned to the kitchen told her she had been successful. Now it was up to Elizabeth to do her part.
When the food was ready, they brought it to the dining table; Elizabeth dragging her chair from the kitchen. Catching Emily's eye, Elizabeth set her plate down. "I'm going to go to the little girl's room" she said.
"Hey, where is that?" one of the men asked.
"Right upstairs" she replied, pointing up the staircase. At the top of the stairs, she looked back down to see Bonnie looking concerned. Elizabeth smiled at her; then stepped across the hall into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Leaning against the sink, she closed her eyes and breathed for a minute. She knew this was going to hurt like hell. But it had to be done. Willing herself to ignore the pain to come, she opened the window, and climbed out onto the roof of the porch. Lying down on the shingles, she eased to the edge and looked over to make sure her landing was clear. The drop was only a couple of feet. She let herself slide over the edge of the roof, feet first, until she was hanging from her hands. Sucking in a mouthful of air, she let go of the roof, knees flexed to absorb the impact. Straightening up, she ignored the pain more, and ran.
Jake climbed the stairs as fast as his leg would let him, passing some kids from town. He turned to look at Shep again.
"I don't know. It's a mine. You have dynamite, right?" Jake turned to look at the opening's support beams.
Behind him he heard Gray protest, "Whoa! Wha-No!
Ignoring Gray, Jake pointed out the best locations to place the charges to Shep. "We put charges here, here, here… "
Gray interrupted again. "Are you crazy? How do we know we won't bring the whole thing down on us?"
Jake turned around to stare at Gray. "We don't. But we don't have time for anything else. That storm is nearly here, and this has a good chance of success."
Shep and Gray just looked at him. They didn't know where their demolitions man was. They'd have to take their chances Jake knew what he was talking about.
None of the men noticed that two boys had stopped to listen to the plan.
"What's taking that kid so long?" one of the officers asked, getting out of his seat. Emily looked at Bonnie as she stood up, blocking the man from walking past her to the stairs.
"I'll go check on her. She's been sick the last few days" Emily said. "We've had a nasty flu bug going around the school." Bonnie nodded in agreement.
The officers looked at them, then each other. The standing officer started to move to the stairs again.
Bonnie spoke up: "She was throwing up all week. We thought she was better."
He waved at Emily to go check as he returned to his meal.
At the top of the stairs, she knocked on the bathroom door and called out, "Elizabeth? Are you okay?" Waiting a moment, she opened the door and slipped inside.
"Are you sure I can't help?" Jordan asked Jake for the thousandth time. Looking away from the charge he had been setting, Jake fought the urge to drop kick the teenager into next week. Jordan had been a flat-out pain in his ass ever since he and Shep had started setting the charges. At least Michael had listened when Jake told them to get their butts into the main room. But now he was standing next to Jordan again, tugging on his arm. Maybe he'd been trying to get Jordan to come with him.
Jake closed his eyes and willed his fist to relax. "How many times do I have to tell you to head inside?" Jake asked the boys. He knew Shep was watching him, ready to jump in if he lost his cool.
"Jordan Casey and Michael Donovan!"
Jake barely managed to avoid jerking around like the boys. Looking behind himself, and down further than he expected, he saw Heather just starting down the stairs on her crutch. She flashed him a quick smile as she stepped down again, to get a direct line of sight on the two troublemakers.
"I don't think you're going to like it if Mr. Green has to tell you again. You leave them alone and head inside now. Do you understand me?"
Mr. Rennie had already told them to leave Jake and Shep alone, but now Liz's teacher friend was on their case. Mortified, they disappeared down the passageway before anyone else heard them get yelled at by one of the elementary school teachers.
Grinning after the boys, Jake turned his attention to Shep. The boys were immediately forgotten when he saw how much dynamite Shep had placed on his truss. "Hey, hey, hey. Take some of that out, alright? Seal the entrance, not cause a cave-in."
Shep pulled out about half the original amount, nodding to Jake. Jake continued to watch Shep as he set the cap and cord. Returning to his wall, Jake finished securing his charge.
Heather stopped to catch her breath halfway down, and looked up to actually see what Jake and Shep were doing. "Hey, where'd you learn how to do that?"
Jake took his eyes off his work for a moment to glance at her. "Knew a guy once."
"Did you blow him up?" she returned, eliciting a laugh from Jake. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Jordan peeking around the corner of the shaft again. Jake followed her glance, but before he could yell at him, Heather started down the stairs again.
"Jordan! What part of get back inside do you not understand?" Jordan rolled his eyes and gave up. Heather stopped when she got to Jordan's spot, startled by the crackle of the walkie-talkie she had just passed.
Jake heard it too. He signaled for quiet. "What was that? Did you hear that?"
"Somebody's on the radio," Shep offered.
"This is Emily Sullivan. I'm at the Richmond ranch."
Heather watched Jake hunker down on the beam to listen. He seemed to know Emily from the concerned look on his face.
"Everybody, be quiet!"
"There are men here with guns. I think they might have killed the Sheriff. Hello?"
Jake jumped down onto the stairs to grab up the unit. "Emily! Emily, can you hear me?" he shouted into the radio. His face was growing more afraid as Heather watched. Letting the radio drop away from his mouth, his next words just barely reached her ears. "Oh, God! Elizabeth!"
He leaned against the wall; then turned quickly to Shep. "Shep, give me your keys!"
"Jake, it's going to start raining any minute now."
Jake reached over for the detonator's components. "Give me your keys. I can make it!" Catching them, he raced up the stairs, Gray following.
Elizabeth wasn't sure how long she had been running. With two good legs she could run a mile in just under six minutes. But it was impossible to keep track of time when every step sent more pain up her leg. Instead, she counted each step; starting over whenever she lost count.
The pain, coupled with the looming thunderstorm, made her want to turn around, to head back to the house, to find a corner to hide in. 'It had rained that night…' A storm was definitely not what she needed after last night's flashbacks. She pushed the memory and the pain to the back of her mind and kept running.
Some time later, she heard tires crunch to a stop. Looking over her shoulder, Elizabeth noticed the trail the truck had left in the gravel when the driver spun it out to stop behind her. Jake climbed out from behind the wheel of the pickup. Stopping, she tried to brace herself before collapsing to the ground. The pain in her leg threatened to overwhelm her before she could tell him about the men.
"Jake! You have to get to Stanley's. There're men there… they have guns!"
Squatting down next to her, Jake took her hand. With his other hand on her back, he helped her to her feet.
"I know. That's where I'm going," he replied as he helped her into the truck. He closed her door and ran back around to the driver's side. Getting in, he stepped on the gas, letting the truck slide a little in his hurry to finish his turn. "How many men did you see?"
"Two. They're dressed as deputies." Elizabeth sprawled back against the headrest, wincing at the stabbing pain in her leg.
"What were you thinking? Running with your leg the way it is?" Jake demanded.
"We needed help!" she retorted. She took a few deep breaths in an attempt to control the pain. "Wait, why are you here? Whose truck is this?"
"I heard Emily over the radio asking for help. What, it didn't occur to either of you that running on your leg would make it worse?" Jake sounded really upset.
Shrugging she tried for a flip answer. "It seemed like a good idea when Emily and I planned it." Teeth clenched around the pain ruined the effect.
Catching El's shrug, he let it go. They were nearly back to the ranch and he needed to focus. Pulling out the gun Gray had tossed him, he verified there was a bullet in the chamber and the safety engaged.
"Look, when we get there I want you to stay in the truck while I check things out. I'll let you now when it's safe again. Okay?" he said, looking over at her. Her eyes fixed on the gun, she nodded. Good, maybe she understood the seriousness of the situation now.
Jake pulled up at the bottom of the driveway and stopped the truck. Leaving it in neutral, he told Elizabeth to slide into the driver's seat. If he yelled at her to drive, she would need to get to town as fast as she could and get Dad. Trying to keep low, Jake ran to the big tree behind the produce stand, checking out the scene as he did so. Peering from behind the tree, Jake saw Emily standing by the open trunk of the patrol car.
The sound of the screen door crashing open drew his attention to Bonnie running for the road, a man chasing her. The man ran along the porch and, dodging the bullet meant for him, cut her off as she passed the corner of the house. The bullet hit the porch post instead, leaving a noticeable reminder of today's events. Trapping Bonnie around her waist, he faced Emily holding a revolver on him.
"Let her go." Emily yelled.
"We just want gas. Supplies," the man said, tightening his hold on Bonnie. "That's all this is about. Just about fuel." Jake looked around, remembering Emily and El had mentioned 'men'.
"Let her go!"
Looking back to Emily, Jake saw her cock the hammer. The man she was aiming at took his right hand off Bonnie and lowered it to his side. He brought it back up, now holding a service pistol.
"Look." He kept lifting his gun while Emily begged him to release Bonnie. When the gun reached Bonnie's temple he spoke again. "Is this what you want to see?"
Emily shook her head in denial.
"Are you ready to talk now, miss?"
"Please let her go," Emily tried again, in tears.
A flicker of movement drew Jake's attention to the back corner of the house. The other man had edged around the corner and was sighting on Emily. Jake's bullet hit him in the chest.
His partner recovered first, pushing Bonnie away and firing toward Jake. Jake ran toward the patrol car, staying ahead of the bullets. He fired another shot as he dove behind the fuel tank, the one aiming for him ricocheting off the tank instead. Another shot rang out, but it wasn't from the service pistol. Jake looked through the windows of the car, to see the man spin around and drop. Emily was leaning over a little, breathing hard and staring at the body.
Helping Bonnie up, Jake looked in the trunk of the car. Jimmy and Bill were in there, half dressed and with their hands bound. He cut the tape with his pocketknife, and told Bonnie to get them into the storm cellar.
He headed to Emily, stopping to reach in and sound the car's horn to signal 'all clear' to El. "Emily, we've got to get inside." Flipping on the light bar for good measure, he looked back at Emily. She was still staring at the man she'd just killed. He tried to capture her attention, moving around her to get her eyes to follow him.
"Emily. Emily! Hey. It's going to be okay. Alright, I promise." Jake kept talking to her, trying to break her focus, carefully not touching her. "Everything's going to be okay. Alright? Look we've got to go in now."
She turned away from him. Jake circled with her, keeping in front of her. He tried again. "Babe. We've gotta get inside before the rain. Okay?" She finally seemed to respond, nodding her head in agreement.
He heard the truck pull up in front of the patrol car, and the engine cut off. Assuming El would go straight for the shelter, he returned his attention to Emily.
Taking Emily's hand, he pulled her toward the cellar door. "Come with me. Come on." As she followed, he started running, pulling her along, "Run. Run!" As he passed the truck, Jake saw Elizabeth still sitting in the truck, staring at where he and Emily had been. 'Why the hell isn't she running for the shelter?' He pushed Emily toward the shelter and ran back to the truck.
"El!" He looked to see what she was staring at. Realizing it was the dead man, Jake moved his body in front of the passenger window to block her view. "El! Don't look at him, baby."
When Elizabeth didn't blink Jake knew she had withdrawn inside herself again. Moving around to the driver's door he put both hands on her cheeks through the open window and directed her face to look at him. "Elizabeth!" he said firmly.
She blinked twice. "Jake?"
"Hey, sweetie. The storm's coming. We need to get inside."
"I don't like storms," she said as her eyes slid away from Jake to look past him.
"Look at me, El," Jake said, trying to get her attention back. She continued to stare past him, through him, that blank look from last night filling her eyes. The wind blew harder, swirling dust around the truck.
Opening her door, he pulled her out of the seat, grabbing the forgotten walkie-talkie lying next to her. "El, baby, I don't know where you are right now, but I need you to come back to me. We need to get in the cellar."
When she didn't react he tried a different approach, hoping what he observed last night with the children would work now as well. "Baby, the storm is bringing fallout from Denver. I need your help."
Holding his breath, Jake thought he had failed again. But then Elizabeth finally blinked and looked at him.
"I'll help you."
Letting Jimmy and Bill help Elizabeth down the cellar stairs, Jake worked on pulling the door shut. He had just secured the door when they heard a booming clap of thunder and the cacophony of rain drops striking cellar door.
Coming down the stairs, Jake took Elizabeth's arm and steered her over to the cot in the corner. "Here, El. Sit down and rest your leg." Turning around, he saw Bonnie by the medicine cabinet. "Bonnie, do you have anything she can take for pain?"
Bonnie nodded and pulled out a bottle for Jake. Taking it, he looked down at the label. He shook his head.
"Is there anything else? Aspirin thins the blood, and I'm already worried about the gash ripping open again." Leaving Elizabeth sitting there, he moved over to check the supplies.
Coming back with a couple of pills and a bottle of water, Jake leaned down to hand them to her. Elizabeth didn't notice until Jake nudged her arm.
She looked up through the haze in her mind to see his worried frown. "Oh, sorry. Thanks. Guess my leg's hurting more than I thought." Jake didn't look like he believed her. 'Too bad. That's all I'm telling you.' She returned his stare.
Jake started to say something, but stopped when he remembered who else shared the room with them. It might be the time, but this wasn't the place. "Okay, El. If you say so." He turned away to take the lantern Bonnie handed him and headed over to check on Jimmy and Bill.
"Hey, you guys okay?" Jake asked the deputies, joining them by the stairs. Remembering the hard way he still had the radio in his back pocket, he pulled it out and settled himself just above the landing. He tried to call the mine on the open channel, but nobody responded.
"Yeah," Jimmy answered, wrapping himself in the blanket Bonnie handed him. Bill refused his, settling for a step halfway up. "Looks like we're lucky you're back in town. When did you get back?"
"Yesterday," Jake replied, shifting a little in his spot, so they couldn't see his hands starting to shake. Jimmy had struck a nerve. If he'd stayed in Tokyo to finish his reports instead of taking them on the plane, he wouldn't be here now. Everyone in this room might have died, including El. The thought rattled him. He'd missed so much of her life. He could have missed the rest of it.
Looking into the room, his eyes glanced over El, her head leaning against the wall and her eyes closed, but landed on Emily, who had finally sat down on the bottom step. Handing the radio over to Jimmy with instructions to find somebody on it, he shifted over to check on her.
Not thinking, he reached around to rub her back. She shifted away, not wanting the reminder of times past.
"I thought you were gone." She carefully didn't look at him.
"Emily…"He started to explain, but she turned on him.
"Why are you here?" She spoke quietly, her eyes demanding a straight answer.
"Trying to keep you safe." Jake hoped it would be enough.
It wasn't. "It's never safe around you," Emily shot back before she got up and walked away to talk to Bonnie.
Jake froze. She must still blame him for Chris's death, and for leaving. He heard Jimmy shifting around a little, he and Bill carefully ignoring his conversation. Running his hand through his hair, he went to go check on El's leg.
Sitting down next to Elizabeth, Jake asked her, "How you doing, El?" When she didn't answer, he nudged her with his elbow.
She flinched and opened her eyes. "Wh…what?"
"I said, how are you doing?"
"Never better" she murmured, letting her eyes slide away from Jake to stare past the center of the room. Another loud clap of thunder sounded overhead, making her jump. She pressed herself further into the corner, hugging her knees to her chest as she started to shake. Across the room, Bonnie lit the final propane lamp. The light hit Elizabeth's eyes and she was blinded by the spotlights brought in to illuminate the accident scene. The flashing lights and sirens of the emergency vehicles blended in with the cries for help from the kids.
When Elizabeth jumped, Jake reached out to tentatively touch her arm. Getting no reaction, he shifted his position to lean against the wall next to her and put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him.
He wrapped his other arm around her when he realized how fast she was breathing. Remembering the last time they had been down in this cellar, ten years ago, he reassured her like he had then. "Hey, baby, it's okay. I'm right here. The storm will be over soon. You're safe, El. Just relax." He held her, talking quietly into her ear, until long after she relaxed, letting her head drop against his chest.
Feeling his good leg falling asleep on him, Jake reluctantly decided he needed to move around again. Quietly murmuring to El that he needed to move, he shifted her off to lean against the wall again. He asked Bonnie to come sit with Elizabeth while he restored the circulation in his leg.
A glance to Emily proved she hadn't forgiven him yet, so he limped over to talk with the deputies again. Jimmy was still trying to find somebody on the radio while Bill looked off into space. Jake climbed up the steps to his perch from before, stepping over Bill along the way, catching his attention.
"She's still not talking. I get that," Bill said, nodding towards Emily. "I'm a cop. I've never killed anybody. She's a school teacher." This sounded like something he'd been giving a lot of thought too over the last hour or so that they'd been trapped down here.
Bonnie stood up, worried about her brother. She started to pace in frustration. Looking to Jake, she signed to him, "Where's Stanley? Jake, my brother doesn't know about the radiation."
"When the rain stops," Jake said. "He'll be back; don't worry, Bonnie." Bonnie started to turn away as Jake finished the sentence he'd already started, not knowing how much she'd catch or believe. "I know Stanley; he'll be fine."
Jimmy stood up then, distracting Jake. "Jake, I got your brother. He's with your dad," he said, handing the radio to Jake.
"Finally." Jake took the radio. "Eric, how's Dad?"
"He's good. The Town Hall shelter's secure. Listen, Jake, where are you?" Eric's voice came in loud and clear over the radio.
"I'm at the Richmond's."
"Why are you there? I thought—"
"Two of the escaped prisoners from that empty bus last night were here," Jake explained. "But, listen, Eric. As soon as the rain stops, get every digging tool you can find and get to the mine. I had to blow the entrance to keep the rain out. Those people have been sealed up way too long. Though I'm more worried the explosion may have put some debris into the ventilator."
"Enough to slow it down?" Eric asked.
Jake took a deep breath. "Enough to shut it down. We gotta get them out," he repeated, hoping they'd get everyone out alive this time.
"We can't reach anyone at the mine. We have no radio contact with anyone there" Eric told him.
Jake closed his eyes, trying to convince himself that it was the rock surrounding their radio that kept anyone in the mine from calling out.
"Jake," Eric asked quietly. "Since when do you have experience with explosives?".
Inside the mine, Danielle found herself trapped in a corner with Jordan and Michael. With the way these two were going on about the explosion, she wished she were surrounded by the obnoxious group of eight year olds on the other side of the room. She had already told the boys to quiet down once when she saw Miss Lisinski looking their way. She wondered where Liz was, but figured wherever it was had to be better than here. She tuned the boys out as they continued rehashing what they saw earlier. In their excitement, they got loud again, and everyone in the room looked at them. Miss Lisinski left her kids and headed their way.
"Will you two knock it off? Talk about it later when there aren't a bunch of terrified kids and a panicking teacher nearby," Heather said quietly, as she indicated her students and Mr. Rennie behind her. "Mr. Rennie isn't feeling well. You need to stop talking about what Mr. Green did before he gets worse. Got it?"
"Yeah, okay." Jordan muttered as Michael nodded beside him. As she walked away, he continued. "Geez. What's her problem?"
"She's got a point, guys. People are scared enough as it is. All you're doing is making it worse. And, by the way, explosions aren't that cool." Danielle said as she moved a few steps away from them. She watched as Miss Lisinski returned to her students and decided to offer to help with them, knowing that's what Elizabeth would have done. She was halfway there when Mr. Rennie started to completely freak out. She watched in shock as the two men from the mine took him out of the room.
When Jake finished talking to Eric he asked Bonnie if he could borrow her chair. He needed to talk to Emily. What Bill had said had reminded Jake that not everyone he knew had dealt with the emotions raised by the killing of another person. He moved the chair closer to Emily, and straddled it.
"You doing alright?" he asked. She just looked at him. "Stupid question." That got a ghost of a smile from her. "Right."
Staring at her hands another minute, Emily finally asked, "How do you know the rain's radioactive? Denver's pretty far away."
Relieved that she was actually going to be civil to him, he answered. "Well, we don't know how many bombs there were. We don't know—" He was interrupted by a thud from outside. Nearly everyone looked up, trying to determine who was up there. Jake glanced at Elizabeth to see she was oblivious to the noises above them.
Bonnie saw the sudden shift of attention and turned to Jake asking, "What is it?"
Standing up, he replied, "Someone's up in the house" as another loud thud, sounding like a door closing, was heard. Jimmy and Bill drew their recovered weapons.
"Not more prisoners" Emily said, fearfully.
They listened, tracking footsteps to the storm cellar's door. Leaving the deputies to the front line, Jake shielded the girls from the opening door. Someone entered the shelter; turned to pull the door closed. Coming down another step, a dripping wet Stanley leaned down to look at his houseguests.
"Stanley!" Bonnie exclaimed, relieved to see her brother.
Coming further into the cellar, ignoring the guns on him, Stanley said "Oh, thank God—"
"No! Hey, hey!" Jake said catching Bonnie around the waist as she tried to embrace her brother. He pushed her back towards Emily and Elizabeth while warning Stanley back. "Stanley, don't touch her. The rain may be radioactive."
Jake saw it wasn't something Stanley had considered until now. And it scared Bonnie. Still curled up on the cot, Elizabeth reached for Bonnie's hand to comfort her.
Waiting out the storm was wearing on Jake's nerves. Needing to distract himself from the too-quiet girl in the far corner, he tried to think about what had happened the day before. But even if a bomb had hit Denver, why were they still out of power? The system should have rebooted by now. Hell, they couldn't even get a station to come in on the car radios. Something else had to be happening. Stanley's tanks supported that theory. Maybe he'd nailed it when he told Emily there could have been more bombs.
Falling back on his training, he decided he'd needed to go looking for answers out past the town. But he was going to need help. He couldn't drive to the nearest cities by himself in a reasonable amount of time. He called back to Town Hall, getting April. He asked her to get Dad for him.
"Yeah, son. What is it?" Johnston said over the radio.
"Dad, Stanley saw a line of tanks. Near I-70."
"Well, you know, there's a National Guard unit to the southwest there, in Goodland. Maybe they've got a relief effort going."
"Well, we need to get out there and see."
"That could be a dangerous thing to do, son."
"Can't just sit around and wait to find out what's happening. I'll go to Goodland. Someone should check out Topeka," Jake said as he watched El and Bonnie from across the room. El looked like she still hadn't quite come out of it, even though she was focusing on the room now.
"Okay, son" Johnston replied. Jake broke the connection then started to walk over to check on the girls. Emily, who had heard his entire conversation with his father, blocked his path.
"I'm going with you" Emily stated.
"What?" Jake asked.
"I have to find Roger. And Goodland is on the way to Wichita." She was starting to sound desperate.
"No. No, you're in no condition…" he replied, referring to the incident in the yard.
"I'm going with you, or I'm going by myself."
Jake finally relented when he realized that she meant it.
Jake's attempt to check on the girls was interrupted again; this time by Stanley.
"Jake, don't let Bonnie see your lips."
Jake moved closer to him, leaning on the support pole, facing away from Bonnie. Stanley looked at her, then away. Bonnie knew he was talking about her.
"Listen, man. If this thing doesn't turn out so good… you're going to have to uphold your end of our pact. Bonnie's still just a kid, so—"
Jake replied in a firm, threatening tone. "Stanley! Don't even. All right? You're going to be fine."
Stanley shook his head. "I don't know… my head is pounding and I feel like I'm going to throw up. Just promise me, Jake."
"I told you ten years ago I'd take care of her, Sta—" Jake's promise was interrupted by the rain suddenly stopping. Waiting to make sure, Jake opened the channel to Eric. Bonnie looked to Stanley, who began signing to let her know what was going on.
"Eric, the rain has stopped." He waited for the all-clear from his brother. Finally getting it, Jake divided everyone into teams. "Emily, get Stanley to the medical clinic, now, okay? Find April; she'll know what to do. Jimmy, Bill, you'll go to the mine, alright?"
From the corner of his eye, Jake saw Elizabeth finally come out of it. 'Thank God' Relieved, he headed over to her and helped her stand when she buckled under the pain. Somebody threw open the door, letting it fall to the ground in a crash. He heard everyone talking but was too concerned for his daughter to pay them any attention.
"It still hurts, huh?" Jake asked Elizabeth. She looked up at him and nodded.
"Hey, Jake. You comin' with us?" Jimmy asked from the bottom of the stairs. Jake turned to look at him, then back to Elizabeth. He was torn; he wanted to take care of her, but he also had a responsibility to dig out the people he had buried alive.
Elizabeth noticed his hesitation. She wanted him to be the one to take her back to town, but knew she couldn't be selfish. Others depended on him; trusted him to take care of them. "Go, Jake."
"I need to get you to the clinic so April can look at your leg" he protested.
"I guess Emily's taking Stanley, so I'll just go with them'" she said. Noticing his hesitation, she continued. "I'll be fine. I'm tough," she said, smiling. "Besides, those people need your help."
"Okay," Jake said, finally giving in. "Go with Emily. I'll get to the clinic as soon as I can." He embraced her, kissing the top of her head. "Love you, El."
He let her go, heading for the stairs. Emily stepped in front of him, blocking his path.
"Jake, I meant what I said, alright?"
Pulling his mind back from the mine and the people trapped there, Jake replayed Emily's words in his head. "Yeah. Look, I know. I know. I will help you find Roger. I promise." Realizing how abrupt his words sounded, he put his hands to her face in reassurance. "Go. Take El and Stanley to the medical center. I'll meet you later."
Bringing the radio back up to his mouth, Jake opened the channel. "Eric, we're coming to the mine now."
Jake drove Shep's truck back to the mine at a slightly saner pace than when he'd left; Jimmy and Bill crammed in next to him. They met the Jericho Fire Department and Eric's volunteers at the mine's entrance. The Fire Chief and his captain were reviewing Jake's handiwork with Eric. Seeing Jake, they asked about how he'd blown it, to help them in choosing the safest spot to start making an entrance.
Letting the Fire Chief handle the team assignments, Jake and Eric continued their discussion about Jake's actions. Eric demanded to know why Jake would just leave these people here, to go haring off to Stanley's.
Jake locked his eyes onto his brother's and said two words. "Elizabeth. Emily."
Eric choked back what he'd planned to say, and just nodded. "All right."
The teams cleared as much loose rubble as they could by hand before they pulled out the jackhammers. After another hour or so, they finally broke through. The hauling teams rushed in again to make the opening large enough to get a fireman through. Eric and Jake followed, to help assess the trapped people. While Eric and the firemen stayed closer to the front of the room, Jake worked his way through the crowd, looking for Elizabeth's friends. Seeing the teenagers being escorted through the opening by Eric, he looked around to see who else might need help.
Heather Lisinski was standing near the back wall, patiently letting everyone else go ahead. Spotting her, Jake headed in her direction. When she turned and saw him, her smile intensified. Jake smiled back, unable to resist it. Somehow, the noise of the crowd faded away for a moment while he looked at her smile.
"You okay?" he asked her, tiredly.
"I think so." She sounded nearly as exhausted as he felt.
Jake looked over her shoulder to see Shep Cale and Gray Anderson carrying a man from one of the back 'rooms.' As they straightened out, Jake recognized Scott Rennie from the elementary school in their arms. Shep didn't see Heather as he walked backwards. She tried to move out of his way, but couldn't quite. The man's foot knocked her in the side as they passed. Her face went blank when she realized they were carrying Scott.
"Gray, what happened?" Jake queried.
Gray kept Shep moving, tossing his response over his shoulder. "He's dead." Shep looked upset, but continued walking to the exit.
'How's El going to react when she finds out?'
"What?" Heather asked in disbelief. Jake looked at her to see she was as shocked as he was. Giving her a few minutes to collect herself, Jake made a quick sweep of the mine to confirm everyone was accounted for. Chasing Jordan out of the supply closet and back to Eric, he returned to Heather.
"Hey, let's get out of here" he said. Heather nodded and let Jake lead her to the hole in the rubble. They made their way through and stopped just outside the mine at the top of the stairs, down to where everyone was climbing back into the buses. Jake and Heather looked at each other, knowing exactly what the other was thinking. There was no way in hell they were going to get back onto a school bus in the foreseeable future.
Jake looked around to see what other vehicles were available that might be appropriate. His eyes lit up when he saw Eric had brought his SUV. Looking around for Eric, he spotted him nearby. Leaving Heather's side, he went to go ask his brother for a ride.
"What is it, Jake?" Eric said.
"You mind giving us a ride to the clinic?" Jake asked. "I need to check on El."
"What? You don't want to drive the bus again?" Eric asked, jokingly.
Deciding to take the joke, Jake gave him a grin in return. "I think Heather would prefer to get in something with only four wheels. I know I would."
"Okay. I'll meet you at the truck once I get everyone else loaded on the buses," Eric replied, moving away.
Jake yelled his thanks to Eric's back. Returning to Heather, he escorted her over to Eric's SUV.
"I'm sorry about Scott Rennie" Jake said, as they reached their new ride. Opening the door, he helped her into the passenger seat.
"It just doesn't make any sense" she replied, shaking her head as she let him help her into the vehicle. He closed the door, leaning on the open window. She started to say something else, but was distracted by a disturbance near one of the buses. Following her line of sight, Jake saw Eric and Jimmy talking to Jordan. Michael stood nearby, while people stuck their heads out of the bus windows to look on. After a few minutes, Eric and Jimmy let Jordan go, his friend practically dragging him by the arm up the bus steps. Jimmy climbed on the bus after them as Eric walked over to meet Jake and Heather.
"What was that all about?" Jake asked as he got in the back seat behind Heather.
"Jordan Casey had this fantastic idea to try to sneak a stick of dynamite onto the bus," Eric replied as he closed his door and turned the key.
"Where did he find—" Jake started.
"I guess someone left it just outside the entrance. That's where he said he found it, anyway. He also said he only took it so he could get you to teach him to do what you did." Eric replied as he followed the last bus away from the mine.
Jake leaned against the back of his seat and sighed. "And Elizabeth's friends with him, why?"
"Jordan's a good kid. He just seems to have this new fascination with explosives," Eric chuckled.
"And a problem listening," Heather added.
"Yeah. About that." Jake leaned forward to touch her shoulder. "Thanks for stepping in earlier with him."
She smiled over her shoulder to him. "You're welcome." Losing her smile, she turned around further in her seat to ask, "Speaking of Elizabeth; is everyone at the ranch okay?"